AMERICAN LEGION: Scaringelli leads Bordentown to win in District 4 opener

WEST DEPTFORD — Mike Scaringelli has been producing enough for the Bordentown Post 26 baseball team this summer that he can take a moment to critique his team’s performance a bit.

Scaringelli did just that after helping lead Post 26 to an opening-round, 9-3 win over Barnegat Post 232 in the District 4 American Legion Tournament at Union Field yesterday.

With the win, Bordentown earns a day off and will return to District 4 action at 4 p.m. Tuesday when it will meet Washington Township Post 521 at Union Field. Washington Twp. defeated Hamilton Post 31, 5-2, yesterday.

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“We know the competition is only going to get better, so we need to be ready to play nine innings every day and not let up a little like we did today,” the Notre Dame High graduate said. “But I think we have enough talent where, if we do play nine innings and play high intensity, we’ll be fine.”

Scaringelli lifted his game to a higher intensity as he went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs to pace the Mercer County champs.

Most impressive was the three-run blast Scaringelli hit over the right field fence in the fourth inning to stretch Post 26’s advantage to 4-0.

“I swung at the first fastball up and in, and it was a really bad swing,” Scaringelli said. “I heard their coach say (to his pitcher Seamus Brazil), ‘Know that.’ So I thought they’d try it again, and I was just sitting on it.”

Scaringelli followed his big hit with a single in the sixth inning, a sacrifice fly in a three-run eighth, and his team’s final hit, a ninth-inning single.

That made him one of three Bordentown players with three hits in the game. Ryan Shinn and Mike Kendall also had three hits, directly ahead of Scaringelli in the lineup. Shinn even added a home run of his own with a two-run shot in the ninth.

“I feels great to hit a home run and help (the pitchers) out,” Scaringelli said. “I go out there each inning and see the look on (the pitcher’s) face. I can see it when we could have scored more runs for them, but didn’t. It feels good to take some pressure off their backs.”

Post 26 starter Anthony Coniglio held Post 232 to one hit over the first four innings before surrendering three runs in the fifth to make it a 4-3 contest. He went one more inning before Dan Hornyak came on to toss three hitless and scoreless innings to earn the save as Scaringelli and Co. made things a little easier by scoring five runs in the final two innings.